Favorite beer of the year: While there are MANY great beers in the state of Colorado, more often than not I have found myself buying Firestone Walker’s Pale 31 when I’m at the liquor store. Sure, it isn’t new or over the top, but it’s consistently a high quality, drinkable beer. It’s a great example of why great beers don’t have to be 10 percent alcohol with ludicrous IBU. At less than 5 percent ABV and full of hop flavor and aroma it’s the perfect way to satisfy lupulin cravings without putting you on the floor.

Eddyline’s canned line is poised to grow (provided by Eddyline Brewing)

Updated: 11/19 with comments from Chichura.

Eddyline Brewing in Buena Vista is making some serious waves, hiring former Oskar Blues head brewer Dave Chichura as its new director of brewery operations and preparing to break ground on a major expansion to meet growing demand.

Co-owner Mic Heynekamp said the expansion, which will cost somewhere under $2 million, will involve growing from a 10-barrel system to a 30-barrel system that eventually will give the four-year-old mountain brewery a capacity of nearly 50,000 barrels a year.

This marks the first installment in our news series, Better Know a Bottle Shop. The idea is to profile area liquor stores with strong craft beer selections. If you have ideas for stores we should feature, please let us know in the comments section.

Enter Small Batch Liquors in northwest Denver, walk past the wine selection that takes up most of the real estate, hang a left after the cash register and encounter a craft beer selection like none other.

The room is little, but the selection belies the name of the shop. Here you will find in the neighborhood of 65 sour beers – 65! – and an eclectic mix of bombers, cans and bottles from small Colorado breweries starting to make a name for themselves.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

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In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!